"How often do you see your friends from the factory?" James asked, sawing into his meat with a knife. Beside him, Lily wrestled with Sebastian in a battle to get him to eat his vegetables. It was a battle she would lose.

"As often as I can. I see Tommy the most, he brings us our meat delivery," I said. Across the table, Matilda perked up slightly at the mention of Tommy's name and I caught Robert stifling a laugh out of the corner of my eye.

After church on Sunday, Matthew had extended the luncheon invitation to the entire Ealing family as well as Miss Jenkins and Esther. Although Mrs Ealing didn't appear too fond on the idea, Doctor Ealing agreed, and we proceeded to meet James and Kitty at a restaurant not too far from James' shop. Both twins were more than excited to be eating out for the first time in their lives and it took the combined efforts of myself and Esther to control them whilst Sebastian just hated the idea. He never appeared to be all that happy around others, besides James.

The conversation around the table had been somewhat stale until the topic of the factory came up. James and Matthew seemed particularly interested in my friendship with the girls, Mathias and Tommy but neither of them pushed far enough to ask about Isabel. They knew of her, of course, they did, yet they never pried beyond what I had already told them. I was glad for that, I didn't want to share Isabel with anyone. Instead, they asked about the others. What they were doing now, where they were and who I saw most often. It almost felt like an interrogation, but I knew they were only curious about the people I had spent seven years of my life with.

"I still find it odd that you were allowed to grow so close to the boys," Kitty added, stopping Sebastian as he prepared to launch a pea towards Esther.

"They weren't known to play by the rules. Besides, I wouldn't say I grew close to them. It was Lucy who spoke to them the most, we used to tease her about Mathias all the time."

"I never thought you'd be the one to do the teasing, Rosie. I remember when we would tease you about John Davidson and you would usually bite us." Matthew chuckled to himself whilst I felt my cheeks grow red.

"That reminds me, I was digging in the attic the other day and came across this, I thought you might want to see it," James said.

From his pocket, James produced a small oval-shaped photograph frame and handed it to me over the table. I flipped the photograph over and stared down at the image that had been tucked behind the glass panel and encased by the metal frame. Staring back at me was a picture of myself. I must have been about five or six in the photograph, my dark, curly hair bouncing around at my shoulders whilst I smiled widely and exposed the gaps in my mouth from where I had lost some of my teeth. Even with the grin on my face, I looked uncomfortable. I had never been one for sitting still and family photographs involved a large amount of sitting still for prolonged periods of time.

I ran my fingers over the glass pane covering the photograph. It would have been taken a year or so before Mother's death, a year before Father put in the factory and I stopped being that little girl with the large grin. Only a short amount of time between being a child and being a worker. I had forgotten what it had been like to be that small, smiling in the photograph. It felt like a lifetime ago, and I suppose it had been.

"Let me have a look," Robert asked, leaning against the table and ignoring the looks from his mother. I handed the photograph frame over to him and watched as he chewed on the inside of his cheek before speaking. "You were so sweet, what happened?"

"Funny."

"I thought so."

Robert handed the photograph back to me, still grinning as he returned to the meal in front of him. I had forgotten about the food that sat in front of me and drew all my attention back to the photograph and the day it had been taken all those years ago. Mother insisted we had family portraits taken every year, she would use it to mark the four of us growing up and changing from children into adults. Of course, there were no photographs of me after seven-years-old and I didn't know if James and Matthew had kept to the tradition, but I wished it hadn't stopped. I knew I was no longer the little girl in the photograph, but I had nothing to mark that change except the scars on my back and the callouses on my hands.

We had different ways to mark time at the factory, different ways of marking the end of a year and the start of a new one. We never marked birthdays, most of us didn't even know what date it was. That photograph reminded me all too much of the life that I had lost when Mother died, the life that had been taken away from me when Father left me with Mr Thompson. It was a reminder of a childhood I would never get back, a life I never really got to live. I almost wished James hadn't have bought it, yet I had been glad he did. I may not have been the child in that photograph, but I still had a life to live. I didn't intend to spend all that time working for the Ealing's.

"I have more at home. I cleaned the house out and placed it in the attic, just in case. Most of it is yours," James said

"Cleaned out the house?" I tilted my head to the side and regarded my brother with furrowed eyebrows.

"Hm. Father left suddenly about two years ago now. None of us had spoken to him in over a year and then he just left London without a word. We decided to sell the old house, so I took everything from it first and put most of it in the attic. It's all still up there."

"What else is up there?"

"Some of your old clothes, toys, some drawings and all of the family photographs. Matthew thinks we should have a new one taken when Christopher returns."

"Is he returning to England? Christopher, I mean," Doctor Ealing asked, speaking for the first time since we had sat down to eat.

"Yes. I wrote to him after I first became reacquainted with Rosie and he responded saying he was coming home. I believe he intended to come home anyway but he wasn't sure when." Matthew said.

"How long has he been away?"

"A year, almost two."

Christopher. I had almost forgotten about him. Growing up, Christopher and I had never been all that close as he favoured studying for school than playing in the garden with me. James would always try and convince him to spend more time with me, but it never worked and the two of us never grew close. He was still my brother and part of me hoped that the seven years that had passed was enough for him to want to get to know me more. Christopher was no longer the same child he was when I last saw him, and neither was I. We had both grown up, both experienced different things and I became hopeful that we could create the sibling relationship we never really had.

Still, I felt nervous at the mere thought of seeing him again, I could only imagine how I would feel going face-to-face. With James and Matthew, it had been somewhat easy, neither of them pushed too hard to learn about the factory and they were willing to accept how uncomfortable the situation between us would be. Something told me Christopher wasn't going to be the same. He liked to know everything about everyone and didn't care all that much for secrets. I suppose that was how he got into Law. Christopher had never been one to care all that much about hurting someone's feelings or upsetting them. I could only hope that Matthew and James spoke to him before he spoke to me.

I placed the photograph on the table beside me and returned to my food. The conversation around the table became muted and I could almost feel Mrs Ealing's eyes on me as I started to eat the roast. Although I enjoyed Miss Jenkins Sunday luncheons, nothing could beat spending the afternoon after church with my brothers and their families. I hoped the Sunday tradition could be upheld even when Christopher returned from America. With my work schedule, Sunday's would be the only day I could spend away from the house and with my own family. If I couldn't do that anymore I didn't know what I would do. I hadn't realised how much I missed them until I spent time with them.

After everyone had finished their luncheon, and Sebastian and sent most of his crashing to the floor in protest at being forced to eat it, Matthew brought everyone a slice of chocolate cake to finish. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mrs Ealing purse her lips together as if the thought of eating the cake disgusted her. I think she just wanted to leave the restaurant as soon as possible and return to the comfort of her own home. Robert almost inhaled his slice in one go and made a point of telling Miss Jenkins that it in no way compared to hers, even if he had eaten it so fast.

"How would you like to come and see the shop this afternoon, Rosie?" James asked, stabbing his slice of cake with a fork.

"I'd love to," I said, swallowing my mouthful.

"Excellent. Is it alright if we steal her for the afternoon?" James asked Doctor Ealing.

"Of course, it's Rosie's afternoon off anyway," he replied.

"Great, I know you had on that list of yours to have a dress made and we want it to be the best. I also owe you seven years' worth of birthday and Christmas presents."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, we do," he mimicked. "This year we'll be around for both your birthday and Christmas so there is no wiggling your way out of it."

I decided not to argue. Christmas and my birthday had always been just another workday at the factory, and I had somewhat hoped that it would stay that way when I left. Of course, that would never be the case as far as James was concerned. He had always loved celebrations and parties so I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything less after he had grown up. He may have been pleased, but I wasn't. Neither he nor Matthew owed me anything and certainly not seven years' worth of Christmas and birthday presents. Just having the opportunity to get to know them after so many years more than made up for that.

When the cake had been devoured, we parted ways with the Ealing's, James pausing to reassure them I would be back before it got too late. Mrs Ealing didn't look all the fussed, I expect she would have been glad if I never returned to the house, though I didn't plan on giving her that satisfaction. She may have wanted rid of me, but I was determined to fight against her no matter what the cost may have been.

I followed James through London and said goodbye to Matthew, Lily and Sebastian as we went. Matthew wanted to get Sebastian home before he became too uncontrollable to be in public, though I wasn't entirely sure how much worse he could get. James led me through the twisting London streets and through several alleyways before we finally reached his shop. The sign above the door read 'Greyson tailoring: We make clothes for men and women!' whilst the large window showed off two manikins supporting both men and women's clothing.

James pulled a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the door, pushing it open and allowing myself and Kitty to enter before he walked through as well. A small bell sounded above the door as the door opened and closed. The shop itself was huge, small cubby's full of cloth covered the walls and there were several manikins with half-finished clothes on them. Papas scattered a small table in the centre of the room and the office door toward the back of the shop had been wedged open by a pile of magazine's that looked as though they were about to topple over and cover the floor.

"What do you think?" James asked, tucking his keys back in his pocket and avoiding a large bolt of cloth that lay on the floor.

"It's a mess," I said, my eyes scanning over the shelves and floor.

"But an organised mess."

"No, just a mess."

"Finally, someone who agrees with me," Kitty said. She grabbed the bolt of cloth off the floor and leant it against the wall. "I've been trying to get him to clean up for the best part of six months, but he never listens. How he finds anything is beyond me."

"I have a system, that's why it's an organised mess. I know where everything is. It may look like nothing but chaos to you, but to me, it all makes sense."

"Hm, you keep believing that."

"I wouldn't be able to work in this, it's too chaotic," I said, trying to tear my eyes away from the mess that only seemed to get worse the more I looked at it.

"Don't even think about cleaning it. I won't be able to find anything."

"You can't find anything now!" Kitty exclaimed.

"I can, but enough about my organisation skills. Go and stand over there, I need to measure you so this dress fits."

James gestured to a small pedestal in the far corner of the room and grabbed a tape measure from the top of a rather messy cabinet. Just looking around the room made me want to either run back outside or start organising it. I didn't quite understand how he could work in such a state, even if he did have a system, there was just too much going on. Then again, James had never been one for keeping clean and often lived in complete and utter chaos when he was younger. He could barely cross his bedroom without standing on something, from a wooden block to the chimney of a broken toy train. Everything about James' life had involved chaos somewhere along the line.

I crossed the room to the pedestal and stepped onto it, dropping my arms by my side as James proceeded to unfurl the tape measure whilst Kitty took a blank piece of paper and a pencil to take notes with. Whilst James forced me to straighten my back and hold my arms out to the side, Kitty scribbled down various numbers which made no sense to me. When the Ealing's had brought me my work dress, they hadn't felt the need to have me be measured for it. Instead, they took the one I had been wearing and asked for an exact copy in the exact same size so there had been no need for me to be measure. I wasn't too sure I enjoyed the fuss of it all.

When James and Kitty had all the measurements, they sent me to a small sofa at the far end of the shop. I pushed a stack of paper and fabric to the end and nestled myself against the cushions, the pile of items just within my peripheral vision. As the two of them muttered together over a blank piece of paper, pencils and the measurements, I leant over to the pile beside and completely ignored James' instructions to not tidy it up. Although it may have been his natured to live in chaos, it certainly wasn't mine and I started to organise the stack into a different pile, the same way I did at Doctor Ealing's office. I had hoped I could get away with it, but I never seemed to get away with anything.

"What did I tell you? Don't ruin my organisation," James said, his voice muffled by the pencil in between his teeth.

"Force of habit and I have nothing else to do," I said. I dropped the cloth I had been holding back onto the sofa and shuffled myself away from it until I was pressed against the arm of the chair.

"Well, I can't have you ruining my excellent organisation skills. Why don't you do some drawing whilst we come up with a design." James gestured to a small table to the right of me covered in blank sheets of paper and pencils of varying lengths.

"I suppose so, I have nothing else to do after all."

"The waiting will be worth it when you have a new dress besides your work uniform and your Sunday dress."

"As long as it doesn't look like a pudding, I'm sure it'll be great."

"A pudding?"

"Don't ask."

Laughing to myself, I took several sheets of paper and a pencil and started to doodle, not really paying attention to what I was drawing. Every few minutes, I would glance up from my own drawing to see if I could take a peek at the dress James sketched out, but he kept it the page hidden from me. All I could think of as I dragged the pencil across the paper was a dress Matilda had made that left her resembling a bowl of custard. Robert kept asking her if she planned on sitting in a trifle and acting as the custard if we didn't have any. They ended up sending the dress back and requesting a new one at no cost seeing as the other one didn't match the specifications they wanted.

I felt somewhat glad that I never had to deal with the difficulties of dress buying, instead, I had worn dresses that were too small or had belonged to somebody else. Although I liked the idea of having something new, a dress that had been made for me and me alone, the hassle didn't seem worth it. Having Matilda's dress was enough for me, but I appreciated how much James seemed to be putting in to make something for me. It reminded me of when we were children, when James used to make me small outfits for my dolls. I sort have wished he hadn't gone to all the trouble in making me a dress, but it appeared on Isabel's list and I planned on doing everything on that list.

"Right, I think we're done here. I'm not showing you anything until the dress is complete, it has to remain a secret until it's ready," James said. He handed the pad and pencil to Kitty who slipped into a room at the back of the shop and returned empty-handed. "Let's see what you've been doing."

"Not much," I replied.

"It doesn't look like nothing." He took the paper off my lap and stared at it, chewing on the inside of his cheek. "You drew Robert?"

"I did?" I furrowed my eyebrows at him.

"You did. Why?"

"I don't know, I wasn't even paying attention."

"Your brain might be trying to tell you something there, Rosie."

"I highly doubt that."

"Hm, you keep telling yourself that," James said.

He grinned at me and handed back the piece of paper. I didn't say anything, just stared down at the drawing in front of me, James' comment swirling through my head as I tried to come up with a reason as to why I would have drawn Robert of all people.

It seemed impossible for both Esther and James to have implied the same thing. At least I thought it was.

~~~

A/N - Chapter Twenty-One is here!! I am still making my way through Chapter Twenty-Nine. Uni work has peaked and I'm struggling to find time to write around it but we're getting there! I promise there won't be any gaps in updates, I need to update to keep my sanity.

Also, TFG is so close to 50K reads so you may see a double update of TSG sometime this week! Keep an eye out for that :)

Question time! Do you think James is suspicious of Robert and Rosie? Is Rosie right to be scared of seeing Christopher? Do you think Robert and Rosie are getting too close?

Comment below!

Dedication - This chapter is dedicated to riyatushir who mass-voted on TFG and TSG! It means a lot :)

First Published - October 15th, 2019